Seven Stones for Kohaku
by Xellina-san
Summary: Form. River Stone. Eleven years after the events of Spirited Away, Chihiro still believes Haku's promise. But sometimes even river spirits need a little help... Rated R for eventual adult content. Please review.
1. Default Chapter

Well . . . it's hard to believe, actually. I never thought that I'd write fanfiction for anything but Slayers, and yet…here I am, trying my luck. Anyway, this is my first attempt at a Spirited Away fanfic, so please, be gentle with me.

Haku's full name, as far as I understand it, having only seen the dub of Spirited Away thus far: Nigihayami Kohakunushi.

This fic takes place eleven years after Spirited Away. Yes, it's romance. Hopefully, it will have a real plot. My knowledge of Japanese folklore is sketchy at best, so if there's some errors, I apologize and will accept the corrections of those more knowledgeable than I am. However, as far as I know, there is nothing in Japanese folklore to suggest that those of the Spirit World who _look_ human can't engage in all the activities that humans enjoy. After all, Haku breathes, eats, bleeds, and presumably sleeps, so I'm going to go ahead and assume he is sexually able. This will have adult content in it, at least eventually, and I have no desire to be arrested, so please, exercise caution.

Of course, I don't own Spirited Away. If I did, there'd be a sequel. Or two. Or three. But that's beside the point. Anyway, having thus submitted anyone reading this to a rather lengthy intro, on to Chapter One.

River Stone

By Xellina-san

Ch. One

Chihiro knelt, dipping her hand into the water of the stream, then let the cold, clear droplets spill out between her fingers. Smiling, she whispered a small homage to the stream's guardian, then stood. She relished these small, secret moments spent in the dappled shade of the woods near her home, caught between sky and earth and water, allowing the slow, deep well of nature to fill the silences inside her.

The problem with school, she decided, was that she had simply been much too mature, to broad for those around her. It had been the worst in middle school; caught with no-one but adults to understand the ideas that sprang up inside her, she had been labeled a suck-up, a teacher's pet, and "weird." Death to an ordinary adolescent girl, but she had survived.

High school had been slightly better; as the world around her broadened up, so did the people she met, and at last she found a hint that there were, in fact, others in the world like her. Granted, she had yet to discover anyone with quite the, er, experiences she did, but at least there had been kindred spirits. Her high school nickname had been "Nature Girl," as her ecological fascination had deepened into a fervor as she grew older. Chihiro recycled religiously, and had alternately bullied and cajoled her household into doing the same. She "adopted" as many bits and pieces of nature as her slender funds could manage, forgoing CDs and jewelry in favor of rain forests, rivers, and whales. The only jewelry she wore, even now, was a glimmering purple hair band.

Sixteen had seen her blossom, physically, and while she would never be beautiful, she carried herself with an assurance that lent her more dignity than most girls her age possessed. She had long ago given up on trying to tell anyone about her journeys in the Spirit World. Even after the initial hurt of her parents' rejection had worn off, wisdom had set in, telling her that some things were too precious and, yes, too incredible to share.

Chihiro dusted off the knees of her jeans and continued home, lightly hopping across the stream, almost too lost in reminiscence to notice the familiar crossing. In middle school and, later, high school, she had developed into a confident young woman. People who knew her said she possessed some secret strength. Those who knew her not so well called it faith, and wondered which religion she was. It always made Chihiro smile, to think that neither guess was really too far off.

College, on the other hand. . . . Chihiro's smile broadened into one of pleased satisfaction. College was wonderful, a whole new world she had never realized existed. College caught her and made her thrive. An ecology major in her third year of college, Chihiro minored in Japanese folklore. She went almost entirely by "Sen" now, keeping her actual name a secret from all but her very closest friends--and those were few. Even her parents now called her by the name she had worn in the Spirit World.

And through it all, Chihiro had held to her heart her experiences in the Spirit World, a shining gem of beauty and absolute faith that saw her through all her hardships. From that one, brief time in her life, she had learned the strength, patience, and confidence that had seen her through until now. She molded her life around that core of strength, and around. . . . 

"Kohakunushi-san." She whispered his name aloud, reveling in the feel of it on her tongue. Haku. Eleven years had passed since he had made his promise; eleven years since her visit to the Spirit World, but still she held fast to that promise. If her experiences had taught her anything, it was that one needed to have some faith in people's promises. A contract, after all, was a contract, and not easily broken.

However, if experience had taught her anything else, it was that sometimes, even promises needed a little help. "After all," she murmured aloud to herself, "I'm not really the 'damsel in distress' type."

And that, of course, brought her to today, and the reason she was striding so purposefully toward home. Three years of hard work and study had finally paid off. Chihiro smiled triumphantly; today she had finally gained the permits she needed to excavate the Kohaku River.

Reaching the back door of her house, the lanky girl quickly unlocked the door, taking off her shoes in the outer hallway and padding along thereafter in her socks. "Mom! I'm home!" she called.

Her mother's voice answered cheerfully from the direction of the kitchen. "Sen, dear! Welcome home! Why are you so early? Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong," Chihiro replied triumphantly, striding into the kitchen and brandishing her permits above her head like a trophy. "I got them! I finally got permission to do an ecological study of my river!"

Her mother smiled, a little nonplussed, perhaps, but nevertheless accepting of her daughter's hobby. "Why, that's wonderful, dear. Isn't that the river that was filled in, the one by our old house?"

"Yes." Sitting down at the table, Chihiro cheerfully dug into the plate of food her mother set in front of her. "Lucky I'm home in time for lunch, huh?"

Mrs. Onigi smiled again and wiped her hands on her apron. "Lucky indeed. So, will you be going there today?"

Chihiro shook her head. "No, not today. I'll be setting out early tomorrow morning, if you don't mind. You and Dad probably won't be up yet when I leave, but I'll leave a note, okay?"

Her mother murmured an acquiescence that Chihiro barely heard, already lost in planning for the morrow.


	2. Chapter 2

This should be longer, but at least it's something. Chihiro-san isn't cooperating with me today. I apologize for the long delay, minna. I've done a smidgeon of research in the interim, at least.

No disclaimers. It's all been said. This is still part of Part One, which is "River Stone." Assuming I get this pounded out of my recalcitrant skull before I'm fifty, part two will be "Woodland Stone." And that, me hearties, is all I have to say about that.

Two

The chill in the air held that particular bite that only spoke of morning. It whispered inside her, a message of dew and low mist and just the slightest hint of a breeze. Chihiro closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, standing at her open window in the burnished steel waiting-light that preceded true dawn. Already washed and dressed, the young woman was down the stairs and out the door as lightly as a spirit herself, pausing only to grab a muffin and scribble a note. She slung her bag into the package carrier of her bike and jogged along with it for a moment, swallowing muffin down a throat almost too dry to accommodate food.

An elderly gentleman watering his roses looked up as the girl passed him, her eyes alight and intent, focused entirely forward. She never even looked his way as they passed and he shivered, for no reason he could think of save that the girl had seemed almost unreal, almost a ghost in the honey light of a summer dawn. He shook his head, and lost the feeling–and his memory of the girl–somewhere between getting the morning paper and sitting down to a cup of tea.

The ride was a long one, by bike and by bus. Chihiro sat in her scrap of space and wondered about the nature of the world when people crowded too close together to cast shadows. Did the shadows go away? Sit on a bus of their own? Or did they gather somewhere, and get darker together, more shadow and less people, crowded too close together for light? 'I suppose I might ask Haku, when I see him,' she thought, and smiled close to her heart.


End file.
